Baby By Accident: International Billionaires III: The Italians by Caro LaFever

require it.
    But he knew.
    The bambino was his.
----
    W hy had she answered the door?
    He was right, damn him. She should have looked before opening. Because if she had, she wouldn’t be standing here dealing with this right now. She wouldn’t be standing in her living room looking like death, facing the inflexible gaze of this man.
    A man who wore jeans and a T-shirt.
    This was the first time she’d ever seen Vico Mattare in clothing other than a sleek Italian business suit designed to his specifications. This was the first time she’d ever been able to clearly trace his form beneath his clothes. The broadness of his shoulders, the bunch of muscles in his arms and chest. The dark hair on his bare forearms. The jeans clinging to his narrow hips and lean line of his thighs.
    A magnificent male. While she surely appeared like warmed-over porridge.
    Which didn’t matter. What did she care?
    She cared .
    “A DNA test, Lise.” He repeated his demand, the accent of his voice deepening.
    His words jerked her from the contemplation of his beauty versus her wretched ugliness. Terror flooded back through her bones and muscles, constricting around her panicked brain. “No.”
    He laughed, a harsh sound. “Why am I not surprised at your response?”
    “Then you shouldn’t have even come here if you knew what I would say.”
    Ignoring her limp attempt at waving him toward the front door, he sauntered to the couch and sat. His arms rose to lie on the top of the seat. His long legs splayed out, accenting the hips, the thighs. The man looked at her with scary intent while his body projected casual confidence. “I have a right to know if it’s mine.”
    “I told you it wasn’t.”
    “You also told me you only had a case of the flu.”
    She stared at him.
    “Which was a lie.” His eyes went pure gold, heating with annoyance and disgust. “Why should I believe a woman who has proven she lies?”
    I never lie , she wanted to yell. Yet it was no longer true. Because of him.
    “Therefore,” he continued, “I will require proof it isn’t mine before I believe you.”
    “You don’t have the right.” She wrapped her arms around her waist, protecting the baby. Her baby. “You don’t.”
    His gaze pinned her, penetrated her. “I have every right.”
    “No, you don’t.” She held herself tighter. The fear of what could happen if he ever found out pulsed through her and she used the only weapon her feeble brain could find to defend herself. “Not after what you did that night.”
    His brows rose. “We had sex. We both were in that bed and we both participated.”
    “You tricked me.”
    “You wanted me.”
    She clutched the flannel, damp sweat on her palms. “I was drunk and you took advantage.”
    His whole body went taut and a flash of emotion went through the gold of his eyes, turning them brown. Had that been guilt? Was this man capable of feeling such a thing?
    His words instantly put that idea out of her head. “When I wake up to a woman with her hand around my cock, I wouldn’t call that taking advantage.”
    Heat swept across her face. “You are—”
    “I’d say it was accepting an invitation.”
    “I didn’t want you then. I don’t want you now.”
    “Keep telling yourself that.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It is of no consequence to what we must deal with now.”
    “ We don’t have to deal with anything.”
    He ran a restless hand through his long curls. “All of this arguing is of no importance. What is important is the baby and who the father is. You will comply with my request.”
    “I won’t.” She knew she sounded like a child, but they were the only words she could muster.
    Another harsh laugh came from him. “You will. Either willingly or I will make you.”
    A blinding terror raced through her, but she beat it back. He couldn’t. She still held power in her company, too much for him to merely cast her aside. “You can’t fire me. You’d hurt the company